Vertical Lift Aircraft Design through the Georgia Tech Integrated Product and Process Development Approach For Over the Past 30 Years

Abstract

If you have considerable experience from industry and government in developing complex systems, one thing nice about being a Professor at a leading technical university is being able to help implement improvements in the education and development of complex systems, especially Vertical Lift Aircraft (VLA) systems. This is particularly true if you have the opportunity to participate as a member of major national efforts to implement improvements; as well as if you have the opportunity to serve on independent "red teams" reviewing industry proposals for complex system development. Fortunately, I have had these opportunities in my 35 years as the rotorcraft design professor in the School of Aerospace Engineering, Georgia Tech and as the Director for the Georgia Tech national Vertical Lift Research Center of Excellence (VLRCOE) for the past 33 years. The particular area I have pursued is development and implementation of an Integrated Product and Process Development (IPPD) methodology that has evolved from the Quality Engineering Revolution of the early 1990s. This IPPD methodology has served as the basis for the Georgia Tech Graduate Program in Aerospace Systems Design, which has become the largest of its kind in the world. It also has served as a research foundation area for a number of PhD student theses. It has also been used to support major DoD initiatives, such as the Concept Development and System Engineering Phase for the Army’s Future Combat Systems, the Air Force-Navy Joint Advanced Strike Technology (JAST) Independent Assessment and the front end decision process for the Army's Future Vertical Lift (FVL) Program. A wake up call for the use of IPPD was given in the author’s 1999 AHS Nikolsky Lecture (Ref.1), although I don't believe that the VLA government and industry have really responded. This paper will start with an overview of the Quality Engineering Revolution and the emphasis on use of IPPD and Integrated Product Teams (IPTs). Some examples of IPPD use at Georgia Tech for aircraft design and on major programs will then be provided. It will end with another call for its use on forthcoming VLA programs.